Closing Bell: Energy surge fails to power fizzling ASX

The ASX fell 0.49pc in trade today, as gains in the energy sector failed to outweigh losses in resources and banking stocks.

A rally in energy stocks just wasn’t enough fuel to launch the ASX into positive territory today. Pic: Getty Images

• Losses outweigh gains despite energy sector lift

• ASX has bled 1.03pc over last week

• Resource 200 index falls 1.1pc and All Ord Gold 2pc

Energy rally runs out of fuel

Gains in the energy sector (+1.8%) just weren’t enough to offset a bruised materials sector (-1.73%) today.

The ASX 200 ended down 0.49% in one of our worst weeks of trading since Liberation Day knocked us all for six back in April.

After setting two new record highs last week, the Aussie bourse has shed a full 1.03% over the past five trading days. It's now 1.25% below its 52-week average high.

Weakness in gold stocks was the core driver of losses in resource stocks, but there was no support to be found in our top banks either – the banks index is down 0.5% today, while the All Ords Gold shed a full 2%.

Source: Market Index

Source: Market Index

Woodside (ASX:WDS) was the top gainer for energy, adding 3.72% on improving oil prices.

Santos (ASX:STO) also lifted 1% with Ampol (ASX:ALD) close behind, ticking up 0.92%.

Only NexGen Energy (ASX:NXG) stood out amongst the midcaps, climbing 4.4% with an honourable mention from Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL). The uranium stock added 0.84%.

AUSTRAC satisfied with NAB’s financial crimes compliance

The financial crimes watchdog has given NAB a pat on the back, finalising an Enforceable Undertaking with National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) after it satisfied its obligations under the agreement.

The EU was originally enforced over compliance with money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. AUSTRAC was unhappy with NAB’s customer identification procedures and related compliance efforts.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said NAB had demonstrated a commitment to ongoing compliance and to tackling the risks and harms posed by serious and organised crime.

“The closure of this EU reflects the progress NAB has made but it still doesn’t give the business a clean bill of health,” he said.

“The EU set NAB on the right path, but compliance is not a one off task – it requires ongoing, incremental change. AUSTRAC expects NAB to continue to improve its systems and processes.”

NAB CEO Andrew Irvine celebrated the finalisation of the EU.

“Through a transparent and constructive process with AUSTRAC and the external auditor, NAB has transformed our approach to managing financial crime,” he said.

“We remain focused on the challenges that financial crime presents to our customers and society.

“Banks play a critical role in monitoring and reporting suspicious, and potentially criminal, activity and we will continue to make investments that help to keep our customers, communities and bank safe.”

Banks were already moving lower today and the good news wasn’t enough to boost NAB’s share price, which fell 0.45% to $37.49 a share by the end of trade.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.007	75%	13584531	$1,702,553
ALB	Albion Resources	0.115	67%	35302756	$9,103,400
MQR	Marquee Resource Ltd	0.014	56%	12867369	$5,024,723
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.003	50%	906226	$2,742,635
KFM	Kingfisher Mining	0.069	47%	2557630	$2,524,605
MSG	Mcs Services Limited	0.007	40%	398920	$990,498
ANR	Anatara Ls Ltd	0.008	33%	7475076	$1,280,302
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.002	33%	8000000	$1,966,820
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.004	33%	511999	$6,515,783
DBO	Diabloresources	0.02	33%	3638231	$2,521,738
AMO	Ambertech Limited	0.19	27%	428364	$14,310,717
ICE	Icetana Limited	0.082	26%	1125810	$34,568,684
5EA	5Eadvanced	0.755	26%	210643	$8,822,124
CRR	Critical Resources	0.005	25%	1910000	$11,080,342
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.0025	25%	40095	$12,504,450
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.0025	25%	45000	$4,602,180
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.01	25%	1150000	$3,920,351
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.021	24%	5398278	$12,485,707
AZ9	Asianbatterymet PLC	0.032	23%	1296210	$11,224,142
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.011	22%	2732794	$11,862,562
BEL	Bentley Capital Ltd	0.011	22%	80000	$685,151
CVR	Cavalierresources	0.29	21%	149522	$13,882,132
CHR	Charger Metals	0.06	20%	695447	$3,871,013
1AI	Algorae Pharma	0.006	20%	333561	$8,436,974
AMS	Atomos	0.006	20%	1356848	$6,075,092

In the news…

Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) has hit bonanza-grade gold in the first 12 holes drilled at the Yandal West project’s Collavilla prospect, unearthing an intersection of 5m at 38.9 g/t gold within a wider hit of 11m at 20 g/t gold, from just 17 metres of depth.

The results come from just a small 100m by 100m area of the Ives Find prospective granite intrusive, which offers a 4km by 750m target zone that management reckons is ripe for high-grade gold veins. Read more about the drilling program here.

Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB) has hit another milestone in its restructuring efforts, now poised to eliminate $4.7m in debt under a loan settlement agreement that would see creditors forgive 95% of outstanding balances.

Subject to shareholder approval, MTB will settle the remaining 5% via the issue of over 86m shares and 4.6m unlisted options.

Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) has laid hands to a veritable smorgasbord of new projects with a land package totalling about 700 square kilometres in the Broken Hill, Cobar and Macquarie Arc regions of New South Wales.

The fresh acquisitions include the Copper Blow IOCG project, multiple copper and silver-lead-zinc prospects in Broken Hill, the Wellington copper project and the Tinderly gold and base metal project.

Audio-visual tech and defence comms gear specialist Ambertech (ASX:AMO) is rising on strong unaudited full year results, with half-year revenue expected to exceed $54m, up more than 18% on the first half of the financial year. AMO’s EBITDA also improved 2.4% on the previous half year, which full-year revenue expected to top $100m.

Icetana (ASX:ICE) achieved its strongest annual recurring revenue numbers in over four years, pulling in $1.9m as of June after a 10% quarter on quarter uptick. The company’s total quarterly revenue has also grown 13% compared to the previous period at $490k.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
BMO	Bastion Minerals	0.001	-50%	300000	$3,162,696
MIO	Macarthur Minerals	0.015	-40%	47030	$4,991,638
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.002	-33%	30281576	$9,070,076
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	1831399	$3,152,954
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.001	-33%	1	$4,880,668
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.001	-33%	3333333	$9,671,169
OB1	Orbminco Limited	0.001	-33%	4961460	$5,103,852
GTE	Great Western Exp.	0.016	-27%	5968099	$12,490,674
AS2	Askarimetalslimited	0.012	-25%	9447683	$6,466,731
CHM	Chimeric Therapeutic	0.003	-25%	6311811	$8,060,777
DMG	Dragon Mountain Gold	0.003	-25%	3163441	$1,578,687
IFG	Infocusgroup Hldltd	0.016	-24%	3206378	$6,130,723
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.004	-20%	22083865	$12,130,095
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	2251712	$27,111,136
HRN	Horizon Gold Ltd	0.485	-19%	106060	$86,903,954
AHK	Ark Mines Limited	0.185	-18%	86211	$14,886,157
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.005	-17%	916779	$14,274,408
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.005	-17%	2310224	$12,457,748
FBR	FBR Ltd	0.005	-17%	7682873	$34,136,713
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.005	-17%	142142	$1,388,819
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.0025	-17%	514914	$30,667,149
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.0025	-17%	1178	$10,103,581
AJL	AJ Lucas Group	0.006	-14%	140000	$9,630,107
AM5	Antares Metals	0.006	-14%	31109	$3,603,970
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.006	-14%	436757	$27,841,923

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) is looking to expand its Araxá rare earths and niobium project resources in Brazil.

Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU) has produced a graphite concentrate from a 730t bulk ore sample collected from its Siviour deposit.

Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) has expanded its Excelsior project through staking nearby ground showing promising signs of gold.

Trading Halts

Asara Resources (ASX:AS1) – cap raise
Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM) – cap raise
Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) – pending government project approval
Norfolk Metals (ASX:NFL) – cap raise
Painchek (ASX:PCK) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Albion Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Closing Bell: Energy surge fails to power fizzling ASX